The Wedding Day
by SandCrystal
Summary: It's Naruto and Hinata's wedding day, but Sai had to leave midway. Sitting alone, Ino reflects on her relationship with Sai.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

 **The Wedding Day**

Naruto and Hinata's wedding was more than just a union of two souls, it was also a celebration of the victory of good over evil and the announcement of a better life for the people of Konoha. Almost every shinobi, kunoichi and several civilians (most notably the Ichiraku ramen stall owner) had been invited. A festive atmosphere had set in, with plenty of good food and drinks. People were dancing on the open lawns as a live band played soulful music and the louder, latest hits in quick succession.

Ino sat alone at the table in the garden, her plate of food resting untouched in front of her. She pushed away a stray strand of hair from her eyes, a bittersweet smile gracing her pale face. The man she loved, Sai, received an emergency call from the Hokage Kakashi and had to leave the celebrations midway. Ino understood the duties of a shinobi and was not upset in the least when he was called away. She did however, dread being left in solitude with her thoughts. She had still not got over the several deaths that the war had caused. The more she noticed the cheerful atmosphere, the more she missed her father and Asuma sensei. Sai always did a good job of keeping her distracted. He would call her Beauty and lean in for a kiss making Ino lose her ability to think.

It almost frightened her how much she had opened up to him in such a short period of time. He had broken down her walls with his frank words, his willingness to relearn his emotions, his patience and tenacity eroding away her false expectations from a relationship. She loved him, all of him, and only wished she had met him earlier, so he wouldn't have had to go through so much pain alone.

She looked up, immediately spotting a familiar pineapple headed man and a stunning blonde woman disappear behind a tree. Ino couldn't suppress the giggle that made way to her lips, snapping her out of her cold demeanour.

Shikamaru and Temari were the arguably the most romantic couple at Naruto and Hinata's wedding. They couldn't keep their hands off each other, rushing off behind decorated bushes and elaborate curtains and emerging with glitter and confetti in their hair. Shikamaru was surprisingly enthusiastic about these little trips, for once preferring something else over watching clouds.

Ino's stomach did a backflip as she realized that Shikamaru and Temari had probably gone all the way physically in their relationship. Contrary to what the rumours perpetuated in the village, Ino was a virgin. She was flirtatious, beautiful and somewhat of a tease, but she had never kissed anyone other than Sai and had never gone beyond some passionate kissing.

Sai, however was not as innocent as her. He had lost his virginity at the age of sixteen, to a much older woman. They had both been members of Danzo's Root division of the ANBU. The mission stress endured by members of the ANBU often led to mental disorders if left untended to. For members of the Root, damage to the mind was almost always permanent. One way to mitigate this destruction of sanity was to relieve stress by sexual means. Since most members of the Root had been taught not to feel any emotion, no-strings-attached sex was literally just that. Sai hadn't derived pleasure from it, viewing it only as a means to a good night's sleep. All his partners had wanted the same thing, so Sai had never got attached to anyone.

Ino knew Sai's history well, considering she had seen his memories while trying to retrieve them from his mind using her jutsu. It didn't matter to her, because she knew that he didn't love any of those women. She recalled how surprised Sai had been when she had hugged him instead of pushing him away. He had expected her to be disgusted with him.

Ino started eating her meal, as she thought of how naive Sai was when it came to love. If he thought she would let him go over something so fickle, he was very much mistaken.

She had almost finished eating, when an unsettling thought hit her. What if Sai was dissatisfied with their relationship? They hadn't made love yet, and Ino didn't know how to seduce anyone even if she wanted to. Part of the reason Shikamaru was an advisor to the Hokage was to negate all proposal's to send Ino on seduction missions. Ino sighed. She would have to ask him if he wanted to-

"Beauty." said an unmistakable voice behind her. She turned around instinctively, her mouth already parted, as pair of firm, but unexpectedly soft lips descended upon her own. He slid his tongue into her mouth, happily tasting her as much as he could before the need for air forced him to pull away.

Ino was left breathless when he released her lips. Sai pulled up a chair and sat close to her studying her face. She blushed under his gaze, averting her eyes, as his deep black ones chased them.

He lifted a warm hand to caress her cheek and make her look at him. His eyes searched her own, making her feel as though he could see right through her. Considering how well he understood her, he probably could.

"What is troubling you?" he asked, his breath ghosting over her lips, sending goose bumps down her arms.

"Sai," said Ino, clutching the cloth on Sai's chest nervously, deciding she should just tell him. "I was wondering if you, if you, um-"

She paused, suddenly feeling shy. Anyone who knew her, could attest to the fact that Ino was never shy. It was something that was assumed to be absent in the Yamanaka genes. But here she was, tongue tied over the one man who made her behave uncharacteristically.

"Yes Beauty?" he said gently tugging at her lower lip. "Did someone say something to you? I'll have a word with them."

Ino let out a light hearted laugh. Early on in their relationship, she had overheard a jounin calling her a slut and had broken down in tears afterwards. She didn't know what Sai had done, but the jounin had sent her flowers and personally turned up at the shop to apologize and beg her to tell her boyfriend to leave him alone. The man's eyes had glazed over with terror at the mention of Sai, making Ino feel oddly elated at the thought of how intimidating Sai could be. Needless to say, such comments had stopped after that.

"No one said anything Sai." she said kissing him chastely. She berated herself mentally, chaste kisses were _not_ going to get him to desire her.

"Then?" he persisted, pulling her hair tie open and letting the golden locks fall freely. He greedily ran his fingers through her hair."I'm sorry I was gone for so long, Kakashi forgot to send an invitation to an important ally and he needed me to use my ink to send one immediately."

Ino laughed again. "Typical Kakashi sensei, always leaving stuff till the last moment." She felt so alive in Sai's presence, her heavy thoughts dissipated almost instantly whenever he was around.

"Sai, I was wondering if you wanted to -to have sexwithme?" she said quickly, her words coming out in a rush.

A look of shock flashed over Sai's face for a fleeting second before he cupped her face with both his hands and kissed her soundly.

After his induction to Team Seven, Sai's entire perception of the world had changed drastically. Ino had brought back all the latent emotions buried inside him since Shin's death. He knew very well what passion was, and it all but overwhelmed him, the magnitude of love he had for Ino.

"Sai?" she asked tentatively when they separated slightly for air. Sai didn't seem to want to chat, his mouth wandered down her lips, tracing her jaw and leaving open mouthed kissed at the base of her neck. She couldn't help the moan that escaped her when he sucked at the crook of her neck. The pressure wasn't enough to leave a mark, but Ino felt herself wanting more.

"Beauty," said Sai pulling her close so she was sitting on his lap. He didn't seem to care that there were people around, elders and youngsters alike. "I will not have sex with you."

After what could only be described as foreplay, Ino was shocked at his words. He was turning her on and then saying he wouldn't sleep with her? Was he purposely trying to make her mad at him? She had thought she would be angry at the rejection, but all she felt was sadness.

"Oh." she said in a small voice as she tried to stand up and move away. If Sai wasn't attracted to her, there was no point in continuing their tonsil hockey.

"You are not going anywhere." said Sai, his voice slightly husky as he held her tighter. "Let me finish explaining Beauty."

Ino looked at him, hurt evident in her eyes. It broke something in Sai to have made her feel as though he didn't want him.

"I don't want to simply have sex with you Ino." he said his dark eyes boring into her blue ones. "I want to make love to you. I want to take it slow, to kiss every bit of you, to make you realize just how perfect I know you are. I want to make you feel pleasure that will make up for all the times you were alone. I want to take away all your pain and sadness; those eyes are not meant for tears. I want to give you everything I have, because Beauty, you have already given me everything of yours."

Ino had stopped struggling after his second sentence, and now sat, open mouthed, awe evident in her face. That was the most romantic speech she had ever heard.

"I love you." she said simply as though it was a fact as common as air. "I love so much."

"I love you too Beauty." he said kissing her passionately. "Don't ever feel like I don't want you. I do. It takes a lot of effort not to let my arousal show. Right now, can you feel it?" he whispered in her ear.

Ino squirmed in his lap, her eyes widening as she felt a hard bulge in his pants.

"Really?" she said feeling aroused herself.

"Really." said Sai reading her emotions quite well. "Would you like to go somewhere private Beauty?"

Ino looked around suddenly aware that they had quite an audience. Iruka sensei was suffering from a nosebleed, Lee and Gai were dancing around professing their love for the spirit of youth, Sakura was smirking, and Shikamaru was looking pissed.

"Um let's go Sai." she said sliding off his lap and dragging him towards the nearest exit. They were able to leave without incident, because of a couple of special appearances.

"Well we all saw who the hotter couple is." commented Gaara appearing at the scene. "Shikamaru, I need to have a word with you."

Kankuro licked his lips, emerging from behind the food stalls. "Yeah Shikamaru, we need to talk about keeping some skills to yourself."

Shikamaru gulped, calculating and plotting a quick, painless escape. Temari sighed. The protective brother phase was bound to happen sometime.

If Shikamaru wanted to get laid, it was just something he would have to deal with.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading!**


End file.
